"What you see with Hardik Pandya as captain is a sense of comfort" - Sunil Gavaskar on the star all-rounder's captaincy
Former Indian captain and legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar has been highly impressed with whatever he has seen of Hardik Pandya's captaincy so far. Hardik led the Gujarat Titans (GT) to the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in their very first season and has also captained India's T20I team in the past few series.
Gavaskar shed light on how comfortable players feel around Hardik, the captain. He believes that giving freedom to a player to play his natural game is pretty crucial and according to him, Hardik is doing exactly this with his team.
Speaking exclusively to Star Sports, here's what Sunil Gavaskar had to say about Hardik Pandya's leadership traits:
"What you see with Hardik Pandya as captain is a sense of comfort with the rest of the team. Maybe it's the way he handles the players, puts his arm around the player. He just seems to give the players a sense of comfort. That’s so important to give a player a sense of comfort so that he can go and play his natural game."
Gavaskar also opined that Hardik leads from the front and gave an example of how he used to bat at No.4 for GT and used to try and set the tone for the innings. On this, the former cricketer added:
"Even for the Gujarat team, he was promoting himself up the order knowing that this is the time when the team needed some momentum and push, and he would do that. So, when the players know that he's just not putting us over there because he doesn't want to be there, that he's gone through the fire and he wants us to go through the fire. So, that’s the key as far as Hardik Pandya is concerned."
Sunil Gavaskar on Hardik Pandya's future as an ODI captain
Captain Rohit Sharma isn't available for the first ODI against Australia for personal reasons. This has given Hardik Pandya a chance to lead the Indian team for the first time in ODIs.
Here's what Gavaskar stated on Hardik's future as an ODI captain:
"He has been an impressive captain. I have been very impressed with his captaincy at the T20 level for the Gujarat Titans and for India when he is captaining the T20 side. I do believe that if he wins the first game in Mumbai, then you can almost stamp him as the India captain once the World Cup is over in 2023.”
The first ODI between India and Australia will be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 17.